Ashes Of Noses Japanese Invaders Cut Off Are Buried

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November 27, 1993

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The ashes of 20,000 noses cut off by Japanese warriors nearly 400 years ago were buried on Friday. Some 1,500 people gathered for the ceremony in Puan, 136 miles south of Seoul, a news report said. Historians say Japanese soldiers severed the noses from slain Koreans and cashed them in for rewards. Some 100,000 Koreans are estimated to have been killed during Japan's 1597 invasion. A South Korean scholar discovered the remains of the noses in 1983 in a tomb in Japan. They had been preserved in salt, historians say. The noses were brought back to Korea last year and cremated.